> I never understood the motivation for a union. <
Sometimes it’s not a money thing, but a job security thing. With no union (or other contract), employees are employed “at will”, which means you can be fired for any reason. Or for no reason at all. Maybe the boss’s nephew wants your job. Or maybe the boss just doesn’t like the way you look. So out you go.
A union will at least give you some protection in that regard.
That doesn’t mean a union is always a good thing, because it’s not. As others here have mentioned, union demands have helped to kill entire industries.
I’m just pointing out another reason why some folks decide to unionize. It’s not always about the money.
I dealt with union nurses.
They might have treated patients well. But, they treated everyone else like shit. If it wasn’t in their contract, they didn’t do it.
Tennessee is a “Right-To-Work” state so that’s not going to fly without a lot of lobbying and money to overturn that. Which means corruption - something that seem to naturally adhere to unions. Which is why we have the “Right-To-Work” law.
I still think if you’re a “good” employee, they would have no desire to fire you. For 40 years I taught in universities and all had a tenure system and existed under the American Association of University Professors. With few exception, tenure reduced the quality of teaching. I think the strongest unions on the planet are the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association. Both control the curriculum of the subject, the licensing of the schools, and the administration of the license exam. Those exams control the supply of lawyers and doctors. Exams in “retirement states” (e.g., CA, FL) are much more difficult that in “hard-to-attract” states (e.g., ND, MS).